Transforming India Raj Center

In Episode 19 of the Transforming India podcast, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna provide a comprehensive analysis of India's recent agricultural marketing reforms and various debates around them. They trace the origins of India's agricultural produce marketing laws back to the 19th century and describe the regime that has existed for almost 90 years. They then discuss the reform of these laws first via the 2003 APMC Model Act and then the three central government laws enacted in September 2020. They provide an in-depth explanation of the rationale for the three laws and explain the political economy of the protests against them by farmers from Pubjab and Haryana. They explain why various criticisms are either specious or misleading and conclude by exploring possible resolutions of the differences between the protesting farmers and government.

For those interested in understanding India's banking and Non-banking Financial sectors, there is no better source than this hour-long Episode 18 of the Transforming India podcast. In this episode, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna speak at length with Dr. Viral Acharya, CV Starr Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and former Deputy Governor of the RBI. The three discuss the evolution of the Non-performing assets (NPA) crisis, its handling by the government, the role it played in economic slowdown both pre- and post-Covid-19, the impact Covid-19 will have on future bankruptcies and NPAs, and preventive actions the government must take. Dr. Acharya also offers advice on banking sector reform, including privatization. Further, the episode offers a rich discussion of the role that Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) play in India's financial sector, the crises that engulfed it alongside the NPA crisis in banks, possible remedies, and whether it will be wise to allow non-financial corporations to have their own banks.

In Episode 17 of the Transforming India podcast, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna are joined by Dr. Tanvi Madan, a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and Director of the India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. They discuss how a Biden presidency will be different for India than a second Trump administration. Madan begins with a crisp overview of where the current relationship stands in areas of defense, foreign policy and economy. The conversation then moves to a discussion of India-USA-China trilateral relationship. It considers questions such as whether Biden will be softer on China and whether he would take a more conciliatory approach towards the latter in the area of trade? Madan also offers insights into whether a Biden presidency might take a more conciliatory view on H1-B visas and ease up on Iran sanctions in ways that might be beneficial to India. She concludes by arguing that with some foundational agreements between India and the USA already in place, the relationship is poised to deepen further as these agreements are implemented over the next four years regardless of who occupies the White House during those years.

In the latest episode of the Transforming India podcast, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna discuss the decline in India's GDP growth in the April to June quarter in 2020, analyze its origins and recommend what actions the government and the RBI can take to bring growth back on track. They argue that the decline in growth is largely due to COVID-19 and also highlight that we need not be pessimistic about India's growth prospects after the pandemic. The government needs to create conditions for workers to go back to work safely, including through vaccinating 60% of the population, and focus on bank recapitalization. The RBI needs to ease interest rates further rather than focus on inflation. The RBI must also prevent the rupee from further appreciation due to foreign capital inflows. Finally, Professors Panagariya and Krishna discuss the numerous reforms that the government has been undertaking, including in the areas of agriculture and labor laws.

In the latest episode of the Transforming India podcast, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna discuss China's growing hegemonic tendencies in the Indo-Pacific region and its implications for India-China trade relations. They note that recent developments in the South China Sea, East China Sea, Pacific and on the India-China border have created the need for India to distance itself from China in its trade relations. They then note that India has three possible options to reorient its trade away from China: raising tariffs against China only, raising tariffs against all partners on goods that come primarily from China, and engaging in Free Trade Agreements with other countries. The first two options aim to discourage imports from China directly whereas the third achieves the objective indirectly by encouraging imports from other countries at China's expense. They come out in favor of the third strategy, advocating for engaging in more trade agreements with large blocs such as the EU, UK and US. They also outline the dangers of returning to import substitution by raising tariffs unilaterally.

In this episode of the Transforming India podcast, co-hosts Arvind Panagariya and Pravin Krishna continue their comprehensive discussion of India's economic response to Covid-19 from the previous episode, turning the focus to structural reforms. The episode covers growth-enhancing reforms in seven areas aimed at enhancing India's medium and long-term growth. The seven areas of reforms are agriculture, privatization of public sector enterprises, state-level reforms, electricity, coal sector, Micro, Small and Medium enterprises, and rental housing.